The role of a cowboy was not a stretch for Robertson, who grew up on an Oklahoma horse ranch. He and his wife raised horses in Oklahoma until moving to a San Diego suburb last summer, Susan Robertson said.

Robertson never sought formal acting training, based on advice that he should keep his own personality, according to his biography.

In the 1966 TV series "Iron Horse," Robertson played a character who won a railway in a high-stakes poker game.

He hosted, along with Ronald Reagan, episodes of "Death Valley Days" during the 1960s.Film roles, also mostly Westerns, included "Devil's Canyon," "Sitting Bull," and "Dakota Incident."

Welcome to the Imaginary Wild West

For several years I've been exploring the imaginary wild west in contemporary Europe -- observing and experiencing the many ways that Europeans embrace the mythology of the American Frontier to enhance, imbue or create their own identities. (Or, indeed, just have fun.) On this blog I will post pictures, stories and links relating to this multi-faceted subculture, from European country music to rodeos, theme parks, round-ups and saloons....

About Me

I'm an American writer, photographer, and public speaker long based in Europe. I've chronicled Jewish cultural developments and other contemporary European Jewish issues for more than 20 years and currently coordinate the web site www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu. My latest books are "National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe," published in 2007, and "Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere)," published in 2008.
I also am working on "Sturm, Twang and Sauerkraut Cowboys: Imaginary Wild Wests in Contemporary Europe," an exploration of the American West in the European imagination for which I won a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEH summer stipend grant. In 2015 I was the Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston, SC.